09 September 2006

This day in history: 9 Sep

1543: Nine-month-old Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots.

1914: The Canadian Automobile Machine-Gun Brigade, the first mechanised unit in the British Army, was created.

1942: A Japanese floatplane, launched from the submarine I-25, dropped two incendiary bombs on Oregon. (Nobuo Fujita, the pilot, was later proclaimed an honourary citizen of Brookings, Oregon, the closest town to the bombing site.)

1943: Allied forces landed at Salerno, in southern Italy.

In mediaeval times, apparently, 9 September was a bad day to be a king. The following died on that date:
Olaf I Tryggvason of Norway (960s-1000), drowned in the Battle of Swold.
William I (called William the Bastard, or William the Conqueror) of England (1028-1087), after falling off his horse at the siege of Mantes.
James I of Cyprus (1334-1398).
The Chenghua Emperor of China (1447-1487).
James IV of Scotland (1472-1513), at the Battle of Flodden Field.

Pope Sergius I (??-701) and Francis II, Duke of Brittany (1433-1488), also died on this date.

On the other hand, happy birthday to Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu (1585-1642), Cornelis Tromp (1629-1691), William Bligh (1754-1817), and Harland Sanders (1890-1980).

And happy 13th anniversary to me....

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